The Adventure at Camp McCalian
by Angela Ziegler
Summary: This is a story of and Jason going on a camping journey for a week at Camp McCalian. This is a spin-off for the story "The Shy Angel" which explores the childhood relationship between Jason and Hana.
1. Day 1: Arrival

D. Va and I are riding in the back of her parent's car. D. Va Guilted me into going with her on a camping trip that her parents are making her go on. For the car ride, both of us stared out the window and occasionally made small talk. The drive was a smooth journey through the countryside passing farms and barren fields that the sun beat down on. After about 2 hours, the car pulls into a gravel road in the middle of the forest. We travel down the road of a while until we reach a sigh.

 _Camp McCalian_ read the sign.

D. Va and I get out of the car and D. Va's parents leave. We sign in at the camp center and receive our equipment. We were provided a average sized tent in a bright orange color. We were also given a standard flashlight, two sleeping bags and a week's worth of food. All of our supplies was placed in a wagon. I took the handle and we headed off into the camping grounds to find a spot.

"Is this one good?" I ask D. Va while pointing a clearing in the woods.

"No, this one's too muddy" D. Va replies.

We continue walking to we find a cleared-out section of the woods next a river.

"How's this one?" I ask D. Va.

"This one's too close to the river. I don't the sound of rushing water."

We walk even further into the woods away from the camp and its few buildings. After walking for a while, we find the perfect spot. The ground was clear of twigs and rocks. Next to the ideal spot is a large oak tree that obstructs the sky. Only a few minutes away is the river that was commonly used for fishing and kayaking. The only foreseeable issue is that it the spot is pretty far from the rest of the camp. We place all of the supplies in our spot and I start unpacking.

"We should go exploring!" D. Va tells me

"We really need to get this tent set up. If we wait too long, it may get too dark to finish setting it up." I respond trying to be cautious

"We'll be fine, what's the worst that could happen."

I submit and D. Va and I adventure further into the woods. We spent the afternoon running through the dense woods, climbing rocks and chase one another. Soon we lost daylight and began the long walk back to our campsite. When you got back to our spot, the sun began to set.

"We have to get out tent set up some and start a fire." I say to D. Va with a hint of uneasiness.

"We will be fine" D. Va replays confidently

Both D. Va and I scramble to set up the tent. I'm connecting support rods together while D. Va is holding up the tent. Both of us have no idea what we are doing. I manage to slide one of the supporting rods through a loop on the tent and string the rod through. After about 10 minutes of trying to get the tent together, D. Va and I step back to see how it came out.

What we see is a lopsided tent which looks like one of the support rods is doing to come loose.

"We will have to make do with what we have." D. Va says to me almost unfazed with the state of our shelter. "Now we need to get the fire started before it gets too dark."

I roll my eyes and start looking through our supplies.

"D. Va, why don't you collect twigs while I get everything else ready." I tell D. Va

"Sure thing, Jason." D. Va replies.

D. Va starts patrolling the area around out tent for any suitable twigs. I get out a pot and head down to the river to fill it up. When I get back, D. Va has accumulated a respectable pile of twigs and branches.

"Not bad" I complement D. Va

"Thanks, I guess I'm just a talented camper." D. Va replies confidently

I begin to arrange the twigs into a tepee and surround that with rock. I get out matches and newspaper. I lit the newspaper within the tepee and wait for it to set the twigs on fire. I grab some of the strongest branches that D. Va found to make a device to hold the pot over the fire. I begin boiling the water in order to make it safe to drink. While the water is boiling, I get out hot dogs. D. Va and I start roasting the hotdogs on sticks while sitting on a couple logs rolled over.

"So, what is there to do in this camp?" I asks D. Va

"Well, there is swimming in the lake, kayaking. I believe there is a jungle gym somewhere. Besides that, we have to find our own activities."

I take the pot of water off the fire.

"Why do your parents make you go camping in the first place?"

To that, D. Va responds with, "They think I need to spend more time outside and learn to be more independent." She said this as if she could not believe the words that left her mouth.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" I ask D. Va

"How about we go swimming in the lake first thing in the morning after breakfast?"

"Sounds great!" I respond

I fill two cups with water from the pot and pass one to D. Va. It started to get dark around us and the crickets started to chirp. Both of our hotdogs look done so I get out the buns and condiments. Both of us prepare our hotdogs and start eating.

"What are we going to go about our tent?' I ask D. Va with a hint of uncertainty

"We will have to sleep in it with how it is and fix it in the morning."

I look over to the tent which appears to be on verge of collapsing. We both finish our hotdogs. We brag our sleeping bags and attempt to enter the tent. The entrance to the tent is angles which forced us to awkwardly enter the tent. Once we got in, I tried laying out my sleeping bag however it was very hard to find room. The center of the tent is pulled close to the ground and one of the sides is being pulled upwards. Because there is very little space, the end of my sleeping bag had to be placed over D. Va's. Despite being in a uncomfortable position, both of us got to sleep very fast.


	2. Day 2: A day at the lake

I wake up to the sound of sizzling. I get up and crawl to the entrance of the tent and open it up. I see D. Va frying eggs in a pan over a lit fire.

"Good morning, Jason!" D. Va exclaims,

"Morning," I reply to D. Va half asleep

She passes me a plate of eggs and a cup of water. I sit down on a log across from D. Va and begin to eat. We had made arrangements to go to a lake that was on the edge of the map we were provided earlier.

"Ready to go swimming?" D. Va asks me with excitement.

"Of course." I reply trying to sound excited.

After we finish breakfast, we take turns changing into our swim gear in the tent. After that, we both set out to find the lake. I brought the map of the campgrounds with us on our journey. I had a hard time finding where we are because of how far away from the rest of the camp we are located. I eventually found that we are barely on the map. Eventually we arrived at the lake. The map had it located at the top right corner. The lake was expansive, surrounded by dense foliage and tree lines as if a wall separated us from the outside world. The lake was surprisingly clear as if it had never come in contact with the human world. D. Va wasted no time submerging herself into the water till only her head was visible above the water

"Cold cold cold!" she called out.

She shivered beneath the water for a few minutes. Her breath becoming ragged and heavy, but eventually she looked up at me after growing accustomed to the temperature of the water

"Well, what are you waiting for? hop in." D. Va taunted me.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." I reply.

As I slowly waded into the water to get used to it taking it an inch at a time. All D. Va did was roll her eyes and protest

"I asked you to swim with me not waltz like a mummy a millimeter a minute!" She complained.

"It's cold" I explained.

D. Va however had other plans than to wait for my comfort. She dashed underneath the water towards me and emerged from below. In one swift motion, she had her hands on my shoulders and pulled me beneath the surface of the water. I tried to put up some resistance however in the confusion it was counterproductive. Once my head broke the surface again I found D. Va smirking definitely obviously proud of her accomplishments. I however was freezing

"Th-that's n-not F-funny." I stutter out through chattering teeth

D. Va only laughs and responds "it was for your own good, you need to be tough or else no one will take you seriously!" She scolded me.

I only hung my head in embarrassment. However D. Va realized she came off more hostile than she originally intended

"Sorry… I took it to far" she sighed apologetically.

"Hey you adjusted to the water yet?" she inquired

I just realized that I no longer felt cold and I was used to the water.

"Yeah." I replied softly.

"Race you across the lake!" she said with a determined look on her face. We swam for an hour until we were too tired to continue. As we were walking back we tackle the pressing issue of the state of our tent. We take more time to methodically place all of the stakes and ensure that the tent is set as to the instructions on the tent case. By the time, we are fully finished it is growing dark and we decide to call it a day.


	3. Day 3: Downpour

The next day, a downpour started sometime before I woke. When I woke up, I heard the wind whipping outside and rain slamming against the tent. I see D. Va looking outside through the tents door which has a clear plastic window. Outside, I see rain coming down diagonally and accumulating in small, muddy puddles.

"What are we going to do for breakfast?" D. Va asks with a little concern in her voice.

Outside, the supplies wagon is by the fire pit and both of us don't want to get wet.

"I got a plan," I respond with confidence, "If we jump up in the tent and move forward, we could inch the tent closer to the wagon."

"Great idea, Jason!" D. Va replies eagerly

"On the count of three, we will jump. One… Two… Three!"

Both D. Va and I jump up. We push up on the top of the tent causing the tent to rise. The stakes that hold down the tent easily come out because of how muddy it is. When we land, we found that we are an inch closer to the wagon.

"One… Two… Three!"

We jump again and get a little closer. We continue jumping until we get next to the wagon.

"Who's opening the tent and reaching out?' I ask D. Va

"Noses goes!" D. Va responds while quickly placing her finger on her nose.

"Fine…"

D. Va moves to the back of the tent to get as far from the entrance as possible. I unzip the door and the wind enters the tent with a wave of rain. I fight the wind and reach out and grab the handle of the wagon. I pull in the wagon and close the door as quickly as possible.

"What do you want for breakfast?" I ask D. Va while water is dripping off of me.

I start digging into the wagon to find food that we don't have to cook. I find two small one serving boxes of cereal and I pass one to D. Va. We eat together while staring out at the rain.

We finish eating and D. Va ask, "Do you think there is anything that will protect us for the rain in the wagon?"

"Let's take a look, " I respond

I look through the wagon and find two rain ponchos. I also find two pairs of boot and we put those on as well. We then slowly exit the tent into the pouring rain.

"How are we going to start a fire to cook lunch and dinner?" I aks D. Va.

D. Va takes some time to think while look at the soaked fire pit.

"We need to find a way to keep the fire dry. If we make a basic roof out of sticks, it could catch on fire."

I take some time to think while staring off into the woods. While I was doing this, I notice a fern with very large leaves which causes me to have a strike of brilliance.

"I know!" I tell D. Va with excitement, "We can tie those huge leaves together and hold them up with sticks. The leaves are too green to burn, as well."

Before D. Va could respond, I run back to the tent and find string in the wagon. I run over to the fern and start grabbing the leaves. I tie the ends of the leaves together and use four sticks as a frame. I run back to the fire pit and stick four long stick into the ground and then tie the frame to those sticks. This creates a roof for the fire and a little room for people on the edge. Both D. Va and I roll the logs close to the fire so they will stay out of the rain.

"Now we have to wait for the fire pit to dry which should work out perfectly because we have about four hours to lunch." I tell D. Va

"What do you want to do in the free time?" D. Va inquiries

"Want to collect a pile of sticks for this fire and many others?"

"Sure, this will make our lives easier in the future."

Both D. Va and I patrol the forest for sticks. I set out our pot to collect rain water as well. When we finished, we collected a modestly sized mound of sticks. Even after we collected the sticks, we still have a few hours to kill. Both of us sit down and D. Va puts on a bored look. D. Va surveys the surrounding forest. The rain is still coming down as hard as it has been which has been creating some fairly large puddles around our spot. D. Va notices that a large puddle on the path that our spot was next to. D. Va gets up and runs to the puddle. She leaps into the air and lands in the puddle creating a mighty splash. I join her and we both jump in the puddle. We spend the next four hours goofing off in the forest. When the time has come for lunch, we head back to the firepit.

"How are we going to start the fire with all of this wind?" D. Va asks

"You can block the wind for me while I lit the fire." I respond,

I start setting up the fire pit using the sticks we collected earlier while D. Va stands next to the fire. I lit the fire which then starts to grow. The fire eventually grows to a decent size so D. Va and I back off and sit on our logs. I pour a glass of water for D. Va and myself using our rain water. We use the rest of our water to cook raman over the fire. The rest of the day consisted of D. Va and exploring the woods.


	4. Day 4: Kayaking

Today is a beautiful day which serves as a juxtaposition when compared to yesterday. The ground is still very wet with many puddles. The leaves are dripping small droplets of water that had accumulated on them from yesterday. We noticed that are leaf roof that we had constructed yesterday is still intact despite the strong wind. D. Va and I planning to go kayaking at the lake nearby. We started to pack a bag with two sandwiches and a couple of water bottles then we began walking to the lake. On the shore of the lake, there is a small shack with kayaks and other water related things. We asked for a double kayak and pick out our life jackets.

"This kayak looks heavy, do you think we are going to be able to get it in the water?" D. Va asks

"Sure we can, I'll push and you pull."

I get behind the kayak and D. Va grabs the rope on the front of the kayak. We use all of our might and we barely able to move the kayak. It took us what seems to be an eternity to get the kayak to the water but when we did, both of us let out a sigh of relief. D. Va opens a compartment in the front of the kayak and places our bag in there. D. Va gets in the front and I get the back. We both start paddling away. However, we are not very good at coordinating and the kayak starts spinning.

"Jason, you're timing is off," D. Va tells me

"I'm fine at paddling, you're the one with the problem" I respond

"I'll announce what side you would be one."

D. Va says left and I paddle left while she paddles right. D. Va then says right and I paddle right.

"Left, right, left, right..."

This continous until we get the hang of it and then D. Va stops. We get out in the middle of the lake and D. Va jumps into the water. I join her and we swim for a while. After we finished swimming, we grab onto the kayak and float there for a while.

"How are we getting back on the kayak?" I ask

"Like this." D. Va replys while trying to lift herself on the kayak. She gets tired and falls in before she get in.

I try the same thing but the kayak flips over. D. Va lets out a small chuck while I try to fix the kayak.

"D. Va, hold onto the kayak while I try to get on. That should prevent the kayak from tipping."

I muster all of my strength and slowly lift myself up. I get up and sit down on my spot. I lift D. Va on the kayak and she gets into her set in front of me. We continue kayaking after we get situated.

While we are kayaking, we notice a poorly maintained dock on the lake shore.

"Let's explore the dock!" D. Va says excited

"I don't know, what if it is private property" I say trying to change D. Va's mind

"That dock is too damaged to be private property" D. Va replies

I stop paddling but D. Va kicks it into overdrive and controls the kayak by herself. She brings our kayak next to the dock and she gets out.

"Come on, Jason. Join me." D. Va asks me in a whiny voice.

I cave to the pressure and get out of the kayak.

We walk down the dock. The wood made a creaking sound every step we make. We reach the end where we find a dirt path. We continue into the woods until we come across a beat up victorian style house. D. Va steps onto the front porch while I stay in the ground. D. Va is trying to mask her uneasiness. She looks in through the broken window and then backs off the porch. We don't say anything but we both start speed walking back to the dock. We quickly hop into the kayak and paddle away.

"What did you see in the house?" I ask D. Va

"The whole house was wrecked inside which freaked me out." D. Va says a hint of relief, "The walls had holes in them and the floors were covered in broken furniture."

After we paddle for a bit, we come across a decent sized island in the lake. The island is wooded has a small shore area. The rest of the sides of the island were raised above the water creating a ledge. We kayak to the shore and explore the island. We come across a rope swing.

"Come on Jason, try it out." D. Va pressures me

"This doesn't look safe" I respond.

"Come on Jason, pleeaassee." She pouts

I cave in to this as well and tightly grip onto the rope. I look back at D. Va then I run and jump. I let go when I get over the water and land with a big splash. I swim out of the way so D. Va can do the same. We jump off a few more times while trying to get the biggest splash.

After going for off the rope swing a couple more times, we get back in our kayak and head off.

"We should have lunch, now." D. Va states

"Where?" I ask her

"We can eat on the kayak, it is pretty stable"

"Are you sure? It will be awkward."

"I'm sure"

D. Va reaches into the compartment and grabs our lunch.

She passes back my sandwich and we both started to eat.

We head back to the shore and walk back to our tent.

After we made dinner, we decided to have s'mores. We then head to bed.


	5. Day 5: Tag

The start of the day was filled with excitement. D. Va and I did camp activities. We did archery, kickball and went down a zip line. For lunch, we ate at the cafeteria. I'm sitting next to D. Va with a few other kids at our table.

"What are we doing next?" D. Va asks me

"The whole camp is doing a huge game of tag in the forest" I reply eagerly

We finish eating and everyone leaves for the game of tag. Once we all get their, the councillors pick out a hand full of people who are "it". In total, there are about 50 kids playing this game of tag.

"We should stick together, D. Va." I ask

"You'll slow me down," D. Va replays jokingly

"I know these woods better than you because I have been studying the map,"

"Fine, you can trail behind me if you wish."

The rules of the game are simple. All of the rules of tag apply. We are required to stay on the camp's paths.

The camp counselors directs everyone who is not it to line up and D. Va and I stand next to each other. 3… 2… 1… GO!

D. Va takes off leaving me behind. I struggle to stay behind her and not let her gain any distance between us. I follow D. Va through the camp passing team obstacle course and many of the camp's activities. All of a sudden, D. Va starts to slow down. I am able to catch up to her and we run side by side. Even though we are running a little slower, we still are pushing ourselves. After running for a while, we both stop to catch our breaths. D. Va is so exhausted that she starts lying on the ground.

"Do you think anyone followed us?" D. Va ask through her heavy breathing

"Not a chance," I reply

D. Va musters her strength and gets up.

"Where are we, Jason?"

"I don't know."

"Come on Jason, you are the map guy."

"What do we do now?"

"I guess we walk around until we see someone who is it"

D. Va and I wandered around the woods aimlessly. As we went it only got more and more unfamiliar. The neatly kept trails became littered with broken branches and rocks. Weeds as long as our legs were scattered all over the path. Eventually we came to a fork in the path with a green pole in the center.

D. Va began to speak "Hey does the map say anything about this place?" She sounds concerned.

"No we're completely off the grid" I sigh defeated.

At this point, we both have no clue where we are. D. Va seems annoyed by the state of things.

"We're going left" she exclaims sounding fed up with our lack of progress. Before I could make a noise I found myself on her heels. As we walked it gradually grew darker. The trees felt as if they were closing in on us as fireflies our only guidance. They hovered above the path giving us the ability to navigate the darkness. I was about to ask D. Va about what we should do before a weak cry came from the weeds off to our right. D. Va wordlessly looks to me and slowly began to make her way towards the source of the crying. Once she parted the grass with her hands she cupped her hands over her mouth and gasped. As she turned around to face me the fireflies illuminated her face enough to see that she was crying. As I moved to peer through the grass. Once I separated the stalks I saw what brought D. Va to tears. A young fawn was attached to an old hunter's trap it looked as if it had not eaten for days. The snare binded its hind leg to the ground. The fawn was laying on its side crying softly. Slowly D. Va approached the young animal and gingerly sits next to it. With one hand she strokes the poor animal's ears gently. She looks up at me. Her eyes pleaded that I help her. This look was accompanied by a soft

"Help." D. Va weakly gave out. After that look I was in no position to question the sanitation issues that touching a wild animal entails.

"Alright, I'll see what I have." I sigh. I rummage through my bag that I took with me and returned with a small bottle of water and a few salted almonds. At the sight of food the fawn lifted its head anticipating the relief it was finally receiving. All the while D. Va was lovingly stroking the ears of the fawn and whispering that it will be alright. I cup the almonds in my hands and brought it to his mouth. The fawn takes a small bite, then it took another bite. Finally, it begins to chow down upon the almonds. After it was finished, I slowly began to pour the water into the mouth of the fawn. He gulps it down eagerly. Soon, D. Va begins to work on the knot that imprisons him. We sat there for what felt like hours, taking turns working on removing the knot from the fawns leg. Eventually D. Va got it, but we were so tired from all of the walking and effort that we both fell asleep next to the fawn.


End file.
